Abstract
Phenolic acids derived from plants have beneficial effects on cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Cinnamic acid (CA) is a crucial phenolic acid that can form numerous hydroxycinnamic derivate found in many food groups. We review current data on the cardiovascular pharmacology of CA with a focus on CVD and their risk factors including hyperlipidaemia, obesity, hyperglycaemia, cardiomyopathy and myocardial ischaemia, vascular dysfunction, oxidative stress and inflammation. Both in vivo and in vitro laboratory studies demonstrate the lipid-lowering, anti-obesity, anti-hyperglycemic, cardio-protective and vasorelaxant activities of CA. The protective impacts of CA against CVD occur by inhibiting inflammatory, oxidative, and apoptotic pathways, regulating the genes and enzymes involved in glucose and lipid metabolisms, and promoting vasodilation. This review showed that the most studied and prominent effects of CA are anti-hyperlipidemic and anti-diabetic properties. In conclusion, intake of plant foods rich in CA may reduce CVD risk especially through regulating blood glucose and lipids levels.
Author contributions
LS conceptualised the manuscript and also contributed to the visualisation, writing, review and editing. MAV, SSA and MHV contributed to the investigation and writing original draft under supervision of LS, and IL contributed to the review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the final version of the manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this article.